Why are Warforged so bad?

[Soel]

I do not think that the Warforged are overpowered. I just think they were not thought out enough.

As written, the "race" has no thing to drive them. Their only function is one that is outdated. They have no real culture. They have nothing to strive for. They seem all too much like robots, with mortal masks on. I suppose some interesting things could be done along these lines (tortured angsty things,) but they just seem far too one dimensional to me.

The fact that they are made of wood/metal precedes the fact that they are "alive." This shouldn't be...

 

[Frostmarrow]

What's a warforged supposed to do at the bottom of the ocean?

-Say hello to Rust Monster!!!

 

[Henry]

...I just think they were not thought out enough.

As written, the "race" has no thing to drive them. Their only function is one that is outdated. They have no real culture. They have nothing to strive for. They seem all too much like robots, with mortal masks on. I suppose some interesting things could be done along these lines (tortured angsty things,) but they just seem far too one dimensional to me.

The fact that they are made of wood/metal precedes the fact that they are "alive." This shouldn't be...

Those two things are part of what I like about them. They ARE "outdated", and the Eberron Setting makes note of this. In fact, various hate groupsare growing in the setting which protest their very existance, and deny that they have a right to. How does someone who people keep telling they are a mistake, an aberration, continue to survive? How do they go on? The answers to this are what make them interesting. And being made of metal and wood shouldn't exclude living - not in a world where elementals are commonplace, and undead exist as sentient, though technically unalive, creatures.

They are rather "soul vessels" cobled together by a barely understood magic, and no one has yet satisfactorily answered the question of where do these souls COME from? Perhaps they are the souls of long-dead giants, stolen from some unknown plane... perhaps they are souls taken from Dolurrh and according to various religions denied their rightful reward thusly... One could make a heck of a saga on how an individual Warforged feels about all this!

Mechanically as I noted I don't have a problem with them, and in a setting where magic is commonplace and the fantastic takes all sorts of odd forms, they fit right in. I don't know if they'd fit the default feel of, say, Faerun or Krynn, but in Eberron with the clash of Pulp, Noir, Dystopia, and D&D Metaphysics, they feel right at home.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Before I said I did not have an issue with them but I do think there are a number of misconceptions with them from non-Eberron gamers (and some ECS gamers) , mostly dealing with the material they are made and its interaction with the game world, many seem them as metal but that is not completely true, silver and iron are there but stone, obsidian, darkwood, and organic material are also there, no percentages have been given but yet they are perceived as being armor plated.

 

[Desdichado]

As well, I have never considered them robots--or even similar to robots. I consider them golems whose paths have crossed with the spark of life rather than animation. In fact, when the term 'steam punk' or 'higher technology' get applied to Eberron I wonder...I wonder what book they are reading.

Quite right. I think that's what a lot of people who have categorically dismissed Eberron believe about it without actually having learned more. Is that fine? Yeah, I suppose so. Chances are that Eberron as it actually is (as opposed to what they think it is) won't appeal to them much more anyway.

But personally, I have an aversion to attempting to speak authoritatively on subjects about which I'm actually ignorant. I'm always a it surprised when other folks don't share that aversion, as it seems common sense to me.

That doesn't stop me from offering hesitant or guarded opinions on things about which I know very little, but I draw the line at making authorative statements about things I don't know squat.

 

[Von Ether]

And 3.0 Druids were spotlight hogs too!!!!

Some of this warforged "demands extra attention from the DM" reminds me of my 3.0 druid and my GM who always said I was whinning.

* He'd roll his eyes during low level games when I mentioned my best spell at the time, Entagle, was useless in the dungeons. (for some reason we never faced outdoor ambushes at the time.)
* My animal companions were always running away from any undead or demonic encounter because "real animals would do the the same."
* I was a munchkin for suggesting that I might need a Dire animal compainion at higher levels ... until Call of the Wild came out and suggested the same ... and added Legendary critters on top of that.
* My druid class was so "broken" when I used Wind Walk that the GM shut down the game. (Evidently when the spell let us be the ambushers, not the ambushees, the game was too much for the GM.)

Long story short, the GM just wanted to run adventures as is, without taking the party's unique mix into account ... something very basic to good rpging. Lesson learned from the player end, I don't see the warforged being any different.

Currently I'm running an Eb game and I am COUNTING on the warforge's immunities to kick in for couple of encounters. To be frank, I am having a harder time trying to fit undead encounters into the flavor of my combats so the paladin has more to do. (I want to focus on a bio/magic game with dalkeyr rather than undead with the Emerald Claw.)

As an aside, I see most of my combats as "encounters," not plots. I learned a long time ago not to leave plot point hinge on a combat unless it’s against the villain’s lieutenants or the final villain himself. At that point, it’s a win/win for me. If the guy goes down, that’s what’s expected. If the party fails, then we have either a reoccurring villain, a death trap scene or adventure hooks for new PCs (“He killed my brother!”). Mostly because trying to make d20 PCs go unconscious or imprison DnD players mostly ends up badly in the games I’ve played.

 

[The_Universe]

Rather than delve into the merits of the setting...

I like Warforged (and incidentally Changelings, as well - but not Shifters). I have introduced them into my homebrew campaign with a slightly modified backstory (several others have done the same, it would seem). I think the questionable nature of how they came to exist is really the interesting thing about them - it makes for some interesting character drama.

Anyway, I like them, and have found that their varying advantages and disadvantages tend to balance out over the long run.

 

[Belen]

Warforged do get lots of cool toys, but those abilities are passive in nature. A warforged fighter might be immune to poison gas, but the rest of the party still suffers its effects. A 1st-level warforged can get DR, but he does so at the cost of a feat. A non-warforged fighter, particularly a human or half-orc, has superior offensive abilities.

Does anyone know a human fighter that would not take a fear at first level that granted them DR or Mithral armor? I certainly have not met the player would would choose a different feat if given the chance.

As for water being an obstacle for Warforged, there is a simple solution. Just say they rust.

In any event, Warforged keep me from playing in Eberron. Throwing mundane pitfalls like poison, hunger, water etc can be really fun for the DM and the players. The warforged cannot be challenged in that way. Thus, what may be fun for the rest of the party, is no fun at all for the warforged player.

Not to mention that warforged characters cannot appreciate a beatiful woman etc. I hate races that limit the number of plots you can use or races that MUST have a similar backstory. This is why I do not allow Half-orcs in my games. I get tired of the same ol' mother was raped by an orc yada yada yada backstory. I have a race that is similiar to half-orc (but better balanced). Thus, they do not constrain the player or DM.

The warforge impose a style of play on both the GM and player. I find it funny that the same people who detest GMs who railroad do not see the warforge in the same light, but maybe that is because the race railroad's the GM for a change.

 

[Gez]

In any event, Warforged keep me from playing in Eberron. Throwing mundane pitfalls like poison, hunger, water etc can be really fun for the DM and the players. The warforged cannot be challenged in that way. Thus, what may be fun for the rest of the party, is no fun at all for the warforged player.

You mean that just because the warforged player will not need food, he won't help the other foraging for food? He'll just sit there on its shiny metal butts and laugh at the others?

If finding food is the challenge, it's a challenge for the whole team. Even those who do not need food directly still need to help find it, because they need the other party members to survive, and this survival requires food.

It's like saying you can never challenge adventurers in a modern setting with a gasolin plot. "I have my characters lost in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and they need to get out of there. Their vehicle has run out of oil. But since none of the character feeds on oil, finding fuel for their bus isn't a challenge. Yeah, that completely makes sense."

Not to mention that warforged characters cannot appreciate a beatiful woman etc.

They can't? They won't feel the hormonal urge to have sex with said beautiful woman, but who is to say they can't appreciate beauty? Who is to say they can't feel platonic love and genuine friendship?

To me, what you say is as nonsensical as saying that human characters cannot appreciate a beautiful landscape or artwork. Surely, a human won't feel the hormonal urge to have sex with a landscape or setting sun. Barring a few insane weirdoes (you learn far too much on the Internet), that human won't either lust after a painting either. And most humans are able to love their pets without their id entertaining bestial thoughts.

I hate races that limit the number of plots you can use or races that MUST have a similar backstory. This is why I do not allow Half-orcs in my games. I get tired of the same ol' mother was raped by an orc yada yada yada backstory. I have a race that is similiar to half-orc (but better balanced). Thus, they do not constrain the player or DM.

Good thing this isn't the case with warforged. They can have been built during the war and fought there. Or they can have been created more recently in one of the clandestine creation forges. As each are owned by people with different motivations, they can have a variety of backstories right there. But there's more! They can have been rebuild by a lone artificer from scraps of other dismantled warforged, without any memory of the head's previous life. They can have been awakened from a Xen'drik crypt, where they were built long ago and never activated, ignoring totally when and why precisely they were built, and why they haven't been activated up to now.

The warforge impose a style of play on both the GM and player. I find it funny that the same people who detest GMs who railroad do not see the warforge in the same light, but maybe that is because the race railroad's the GM for a change.

It only imposes a style of play if all players have warforged characters. You want to play your shipwrecked Robinsons starvation plot? Well, the warforged won't need food or water. The other characters still will. And if the warforged cares about his comrades (read the "why shouldn't they feel genuine friendship?" point above), food will be one of his concerns. Or are they required to be selfish? Guess my LG warforged healer (the Healer class from the Mini HB) is not supposed to exist, then.

 

[Flyspeck23]

The warforge impose a style of play on both the GM and player. I find it funny that the same people who detest GMs who railroad do not see the warforge in the same light, but maybe that is because the race railroad's the GM for a change.

Any race, and any class - and any character background, for that matter - is railroading the GM, at least if the GM is taking each party member's strength, weakness and personal motivation into account.
Why should warforged be any worse?